Sunday, November 11, 2007

Mamas Gone Wild

I’ve been doing a lot of chillaxing lately. First there was Cancun at the end of October. This weekend it was Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast. Through a friend of a friend, I was able to get a beach rental for a girlfriends-only-getaway on short notice. It was gorgeous. It was spacious. It was spotless. There were no kids, no routines, no cell phone coverage. Just a whole mess of peace and quiet, and...a whole heap of trashy food.

I normally don't have a sweet tooth, but even I can't resist glazed donuts.

We didn’t know what we’d have at our disposal in the kitchen or if there’d be anything bigger than a convenience mart nearby, so we hit up Trader Joe’s before heading out. I don’t frequent TJ’s very often, but for our purposes it was perfect. We picked up about 5 different cheeses, breads, some dips and spreads, chips, chocolate covered almonds and anything else that wouldn't provide any real nutrition but tastes really good. We also picked up a dozen glazed donuts, sodas and lime sorbet at a small market on the way. Of course we had plenty of beverages to keep us well hydrated.

Girlfriend M makes a mean mojito.

In the midst of our 2 and half day trash food binge, we did manage to have one square meal. At the recommendation of a local real estate agent, we had lunch at Mazatlan, the town’s Mexican restaurant. We weren’t expecting much, but quite honestly, it was the best Mexican food I have had since moving to Portland over 2 years ago. Their beans were so tasty, they must have used a healthy dose of lard. I ordered the pork al pastor tacos, which were literally the best I have ever tasted. Girlfriend L ordered the carne asada tacos, which were made with NY strip, and they were so tender and tasty. Girlfriend M ordered the chicken nachos and they were also quite good. We stuffed ourselves so full, we literally had to waddle out of the restaurant.

Carne Asada Tacos

Nachos with Chicken

After lunch we made the semi-spontaneous decision to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, Tillamook is a town near the Oregon coast that is home of Tillamook brand dairy products. They make cheddar and the like as well as butter, ice cream and sour cream. At the factory you can take a self-guided tour to learn about the cheese making process and watch the packaging process from an observation room. As interesting as the tour sounded (not really), we skipped it. The girls and I were more engrossed in watching the pile-up that occurred on one of the convey belts, causing package after package of cheese to fall from a height of about 20 ft. There was a small mountain of piled cheese before any of the employees caught on (many of them wear ear protection and are too busy to even look up and around). At the small on-site market, they offer their products at prices much lower than found in Portland supermarkets. They also offer other Oregon-produced products, such as honey and jams, for prices higher than can be found in Portland. I guess it all evens out in the end and I ended up paying what I would normally pay in the city. And as if we didn’t have enough junk food, the Girlfriends thought it would be a good idea to purchase a flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for dinner (you know, since they were too full to eat a proper dinner). They ate the leftovers for breakfast too. See what happens to the parents when there are no kids around??

Modest selection of cheeses.

Just in case you're wondering, we did do more than eat junk food. We watched an awesome Ninja Warrior marathon and lots of reality TV on VH1. We also played 3 games of Scrabble and read several past additions of gossip magazines.

Chillaxing in the cozy slippers I purchased in town.

Tomorrow starts my week of abstinence. I'll be abstaining from eating anything all week to make up for my gluttonous behavior this weekend. So you know why I'm not posting.